Guwahati: CBI arrests five accused, including two NHAI public servants and the Executive Director of a private company, in an alleged bribery case of Rs. 4 lakh.

Also, an amount of Rs. 2.33 crore (approx) was recovered from the premises of ED, while searching.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested an accounts officer and a junior accounts officer from the Regional Office of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Dispur, Guwahati (Assam), as well as three employees, including the Executive Director of a private company based in Gurugram (Haryana), in connection with an alleged Rs. 4 lakh bribery.

A charge sheet was filed against an accounts officer and a junior accounts officer, both of whom were assigned to the Regional Office of the National Highway Authority of India in Dispur, Guwahati, and others, including a private firm situated in Gurugram and its three workers.

The accused NHAI officers were identified as Dipak Das, Accounts Officer, and Manoj Kumar, Junior Accounts Officer. Both are assigned to the NHAI's Dispur Regional Office in Guwahati. Sunil Kumar Agarwal (Executive Director), Pankaj and Dilip Rajput, all of whom are linked with Gurugram-based GR Infraprojects Ltd, were named as the last three defendants.

It was alleged that the GR Infraprojects had executed a contract of road widening in Meghalaya in 2018 for which discharge certificate was to be issued by NHAI after completion of four years of mandatory maintenance on March 31, 2022.

The public servants and others favored the said private company in processing and clearing final bills, as well as getting bank guarantees of the private company lying with NHAI released and discharge certificates issued by NHAI, for which a bribe amount was allegedly paid to the public servants.

The CBI set a trap for both public officers and nabbed them for asking and taking a bribe of Rs. 4 lakh from an employee of the above mentioned private firm on its behalf, who delivered the cash in collusion with other workers. Employees of the private enterprise were also apprehended.

Searches were conducted around 15 places, including Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Shillong, and Patna at the premises of the accused which led to the recovery of incriminating materials. Cash of Rs. 2.33 crore (approx.) was recovered from the premises of the Executive Director of a said private company.

All the arrested accused will be produced before the Competent Court at Guwahati.